


the time of our life

by mintberry



Series: Me? It's Me! [1]
Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Minhyun is only mentioned, Non AU, post pd101
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-21 23:33:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11955027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintberry/pseuds/mintberry
Summary: Perhaps - still fresh-faced at age twenty-two - fame and recognition wouldn’t just be a dream anymore.Instead of just trusting the empty words of others, real success could be an attainable goal; something that him and the rest of the members could latch onto – this time before it vanishes.(a brief interlude, set after the conclusion of Produce 101)





	the time of our life

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> So I've been thinking about starting to post again (most are just WIP's clogging up my computer), but here's a totally self-indulgent fic revolving around our NU'EST boys and onibugi leader!
> 
> (not beta'd, so I apologise for any mistakes in advance >_<)

 

_-_

 

_“Jonghyun-ah, Jonghyun.”_

 

He was floating in and out of dreams as a warm hand nudged him in an attempt to wake him up, but he couldn’t even feel the sun on his eyes yet, so it had to still be too early to get up for school.

 

“What d’you want – ’m too tired.”

 

Someone chuckled – that didn’t sound like his older sister – as the hand shook him harder.

 

“ _Eomma_ , five more minutes, please.”  Jonghyun didn’t care how whiney he sounded as he squeezed his eyes shut, curling up even tighter.

 

He heard a distinctly masculine snort.

 

_Wait–_

 

“The hell, I’m not your mother!”

 

He jerked awake, immediately crashing his head into something hard.

 

There were many unpleasant things a person could wake up too after a deep slumber – especially when living in a dorm with four other teenage boys – but the sight of Dongho cackling over him, (undoubtedly spewing spit everywhere), was certainly one of the worst yet.  He caught a glimpse of their manager, who was standing back a couple of feet by the entrance to the concert hall – open bottle of water in one hand, a certain Kang Baek- _I’m-going-to-kill-you_ -ho’s phone in the other – and all he could do was groan, rubbing the sore spot on the top of his head.  This was one of few times that Jonghyun regretted doing away with the _hyung-dongsaeng_ hierarchy, standard of most _normal_ organisations within society (although since when had they ever been considered normal.)

 

“Time for rehearsals, sleepyhead.”  Jonghyun wanted to wipe that shit-eating grin off their main vocalist’s face.  He threw a sucker punch in an attempt at retaliation – which the other boy easily caught, before wrapping his larger hand around Jonghyun’s fist and yanking him out of the back of the van where he had been sleeping.  Dongho at least had the courtesy to steady him, rather than letting him face-plant into the asphalt.

 

Their manager was all business as usual, passing his copy of the fan meet agenda, full of different scripts and commands he was supposed to have already memorised.  “Hair and makeup, first – then we can work from there.”  He paused.

 

“Or do you need _mommy_ to come and wake you up.”

\---

“You’re lucky.” He felt the brush painting foundation all over his face pause for a second, the _noona_ doing his makeup frowning down at him.  “A high stress life, poor sleep schedule, and the only skincare regime you follow is based primarily around Minki’s reject pile, yet your overall skin condition is as close to perfect as I’ve seen.  You can’t be getting enough to eat either, and I’ve been in this business to know what types of unhealthy snacks boys like you go for if the company isn’t controlling your diets.”

 

Jonghyun grinned cheekily.  “Well I’ve always had skin of steel, but I’m sure I wouldn’t look half as nice without the help _noona’s_ skills.”

 

“Punk.” The stylist rapped him lightly on the tip of his nose with her brush.  “Your stage outfit is in the main waiting room and they’ll do your hair there later.”  Jonghyun hummed in acknowledgement, content to doze lightly – used to the familiar routine of having his makeup done.

 

“How does it feel?” the makeup _noona_ asked, as she uncaps the eyeliner, bringing the brush up to his eye.

 

“Like a dream.” Jonghyun replied truthfully, careful not to move, least he get poked in the eye. “It’s exhausting – it’s always been, maybe even more now that we’re so busy – but I wouldn’t give it up for anything.  Maybe it feels more precious, since we’ve struggled for so long just to make it to this point.”

 

He felt some sort of powder being brushed across his face a couple of times.

 

“I think I’m going to leave it as is for now, but you’ll need to come back for some touch ups later.  I could do it now, but I’m certain that by the time the show starts, you’ll have either sweated or rubbed half of it off.  Let’s see how this holds up under the stage light, too, and then we’ll go from there.”  The makeup _noona_ decided, before hurrying away.  Maybe he’ll finally get some more nap time now.  However, Jonghyun is left alone all of ten seconds, before the tell-tale _pit-pat_ of shoes comes wandering into the room.

 

“Wow, Jonghyun, I didn’t think you could get lamer.”  Minki snorted, pointing to something on his phone as he walked over to where Jonghyun had been sitting.  Jonghyun glanced over quickly and to absolutely zero surprise, it the video from earlier – _but wasn’t the video taken on Dongho’s phone_.  He quickly pulled out his phone and groaned for what must have been the thousandth time that day.  There were over 100 unread messages waiting for him on Kakao, undoubtedly from whichever chatrooms Dongho had sent the damn video to.

 

“Fuck you all.”  Jonghyun scowled, albeit with absolutely no bite. “Do you know when the first sound check’s going to start?”

 

Minki shrugged.  “Maybe in another half hour or so.  You look kind of dead, I think you should ask the stylist for more concealer or highlighter or something before we go out on stage later.”

 

“I feel kind of dead, got any coffee or energy drinks?”

 

“Not here, but come on back to the main waiting room, and there’s a small buffet there.”  Jonghyun sighed as he let his bandmate – their _maknae_ , or at least as close as they came to having one – gently pull him out of the quiet, cosy makeup room and into the mess that was the backstage of any decent sized event.  “You should eat something, too.  If you have too much caffeine on an empty stomach, you’ll feel even worse.”

 

“Not hungry.  Only want some coffee, too tired for any food right now – had some stuff to eat during the shoot anyhow.” While he didn’t feel sick per say, the thought of consuming any food was distinctly unappetizing at the current moment, especially next to the promise of artificial energy in the form of caffeine.

 

Minki frowned, but didn’t comment.  Maybe Jonghyun was just overtired at this point and more prone to sudden bouts of sappiness, but as Minki guided him through the busy corridors, he couldn’t help but notice how much the other boy had grown.  As trainees, Minki had always been an uncertain, yet still somehow bubbly – something that had carried over, even after debut.  While they’d all been forced through years of anonymity and struggles, Minki somehow retained the light part of his personality, and even _grown_.  There was a confident sense of self that radiated off him now – something that didn’t appear overnight.  Only someone like Minki could have taken his status as an ‘F’ ranked trainee five whole years after debut, and not drown in the endless cycle of doubt and self-loathing.  Jonghyun knew that it was more than just the technical help Minki had given over the course of the show that had endeared him to some of the other lower ranked trainees.  Instead, it was that coupled the way in which he knew when to be all work and serious, but then at the tip of a hat, could instantly soften into smiles and jokes and boost the overall morale – a skill so distinctly Minki that it was almost incredible.  Soft, but strong fingers pressed against his brow, interrupting his train of thoughts and smoothing away creases that Jonghyun hadn’t even realised existed.

 

“Don’t think so hard right now,” Minki said, pushing him into a chair before walking over in the direction of the table.  Jonghyun nodded absentmindedly, as he checked his reflection with his phone camera.  Minki was right; he probably needed to go back to makeup, because _wow_ , those shouldn’t even be called eye bags anymore – what with the almost sickly purple hue they had taken on – and he hoped that some miracle combination of concealer, highlighter, and bronzer might make his face look just a little bit less like a sunken-in corpse out of a horror movie.  (Jonghyun winces just as fast – had he always sounded that dramatic, or had he been reading too many cheesy manga in his free time.)

 

“Here.”  Aron shoved a large americano into his hand, plopping down onto the chair across from him.  “Manager-hyung said you can have this for now, but save any energy drinks until right before the concert starts.”  Jonghyun took a grateful sip and while it’s probably placebo, he already felt a bit more awake.  Minki and Dongho take the remaining seats, bickering about something or other.

 

“I found this one lurking by the snacks, even though the managers had specifically told him to stay away.”  Minki directed a particularly nasty stink eye at Dongho before confiscating the plate he had been holding.

 

“Hey, I can’t sing on an empty stomach.”  The larger vocalist complained throwing his hands up in the air, before patting his abs.  “I’ve lost weight anyhow – it’s all muscle under here now.”

 

Jonghyun snorted.  “Sure, maybe now it’s _mostly_ muscle, but it won’t be for long if you keep eating like that.  Have some of the fruits or vegetables, at least.”  He blinked as Dongho reached across the table, only to shove a piece of cheese in his mouth.

 

“Dongho’s already grabbed this off the table with his bare hands, and I doubt anyone wants him to put it back now – so have some or it will go to waste.”  Mink nagged, and this time Dongho offered him a piece of banana.  Jonghyun bit at it slowly this time, flushing slightly as the rest of the members watched at him eat.

 

“By the way, sound check’s going to start in around twenty minutes or so, and we’re going to go over some of the final blocking.  Also, just checked twitter and apparently there’ve been fans queuing up for merchandise all night and I still can’t believe we managed to sell out so fast.” Aron mentions easily in one breath, stealing away a couple of biscuits which he promptly starts munching on and Jonghyun smiles.  He may be the leader, but each and every member – including Minhyun (especially Minhyun, to be honest) – is equally capable of pulling their weight when need be, regardless of the situation. 

\---

The fan meet was over in a blur, but there was no time to rest, since it was back to the same old routine of preparing comeback promotions, but at the same time it wasn’t.  There had never been the same sense of hope in their studios or practice rooms, although the desperation was more than familiar.  This time however, the burning need to do well – to do even better than before – felt a bit more like a new challenge instead of a crushing burden.  The pressure was still there of course, but this time Jonghyun felt like he could actually breath; that the weight of all their futures weren’t resting solely on his shoulders.  NU’EST might have been the ‘super rookies’ of 2012, but by their fifth year in the industry with virtually zero recognition, Jonghyun was certain that he knew better than almost anyone how fleeting fame can really be and he knew better than to get complacent.  Friends, family – outsiders – they routinely asked him if he felt like this was their career high.  If their failure to amass 100 attendees for that fan sign event during ‘Sleep Talking’ – (where even a single album purchase would guarantee a chance) – represented career low, followed by a plateau of grim acceptance during their subsequent promotions, then to most, this post-Produce 101 heat wave would seem like their obvious high.  However, Jonghyun refused to call this sudden burst of popularity their high, even after he felt the deafening screams of their fans.  Following Produce 101, people often mistook his personality as distinctly pessimistic, and while Jonghyun’s willing to concur that he didn’t always have the brightest outlook on life – given the gravity of their situation, how could anything else be expected?  In some ways, the fact that they had such a successful debut only made the ache worse.  They were teased a brief taste of fame, only to have it cruelly snatched away, but for the first time in years, Jonghyun felt like there was something to be truly optimistic about.  And sure, while there were some circumstances that he wished he could change – ( _such as the reason why they were promoting as a subunit instead of as a whole group_ ) – he wanted to believe that they would be able to reach even greater achievements.

 

If someone was to tell the awkward fourteen-year-old boy Jonghyun once was, back when he was still the company’s only male trainee, that at age twenty-three he’d be rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, Jonghyun is pretty certain he’d be incredulous.  Que his hopeless twenty-one-year-old self – who had yet to achieve number one on a music show, let alone even receive an _invite_ to attend an end-of-the-year awards ceremony over five years into their career – and Jonghyun’s over ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure he would have immediately called bullshit.  Perhaps though, still fresh-faced at age twenty-two, fame and recognition wouldn’t just be a dream anymore.  Instead of just trusting the empty words of others, real success could be an attainable goal; something that him and the rest of the members could latch onto – this time before it vanishes.

 

\---

 

 

 

 

 

(A reporter repeats the question, and this time Jonghyun replies, “It could be that this is our peak, and regardless of what happens, we are extraordinarily grateful of the support received from both our fans and the public up to this point.  However, rather than this being the pinnacle of our career, I’d also like to hope that our current success will become part of the road to lead us to even greater heights in the future.”)

 

 

 

♥♥♥

 

(follow me on twitter [@lovefrom_beyond](https://twitter.com/lovefrom_beyond) to talk, rant, or suggest anything~!)

**Author's Note:**

> So, hope you enjoyed it ;)
> 
> It was a bit monologue heavy, but hopefully not too boring ;)  
> I honestly love NU'EST to death and back in 2012 (and up until Good Bye Bye) I was pretty into them, but gradually as time went on, they kind of just fizzled off my radar until produce 101 season 2 happened and my life got ruined again hehe!  
> I didn't edit this, so if you find any grammar mistakes or general weirdness, please point them out below!  
> (Also, any comments, bookmarks, or kudos would be greatly appreciated)
> 
> ('Me? It's Me!' will be a series of unrelated short fics most likely centred around NU'EST, featuring Wanna One and other Produce 101 trainees  
> Follow me on twitter at @lovefrom_beyond for updates or if you just wanna' talk ^_^)


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